


How Dare I?

by Storygirl000



Category: Original Work
Genre: Free Verse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, LGBTQ Themes, Original Character(s), Poetry, Shipping, fandom discussion, vent - Freeform, venting about fandoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 02:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17716700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storygirl000/pseuds/Storygirl000
Summary: A poem criticizing fandoms.





	How Dare I?

**Author's Note:**

> For the record, this is meant to be applied to any fandom, but I did have a few specific ones in mind when writing it.

Today I wrote a fanfic

and the focus was romance.

He was the male lead, she was his canon girl-

can I make it any more obvious?

 

I posted the first chapter

on a site that would host it

and immediately the comments

started pouring in.

 

And they all said the same thing:

 

How dare I?

 

How dare I like this pairing

when they’re horrible for each other

even though on the show

they seem like the perfect pair?

 

How dare I ship a straight pairing?

Obviously I’m homophobic

even though I’ve written for

two LGBTQ pairings as well.

 

How dare I not pair him

with the person who’s obviously his soulmate

even though on the show

they clearly hate each other?

 

How dare I like a pairing that you don’t like?

Obviously that means

you can harass me all you want

because my opinion’s not the same as yours.

 

Today I wrote a fanfic

about a character I like

meant to explore their personality

and fill in some gaps.

 

I posted the first chapter

on a site that would host it

and immediately the comments

started pouring in.

 

And they all said the same thing:

 

How dare I?

 

How dare I like this character?

They’re obviously a rapist and murderer

even though on the show

they’re perfectly kind and sweet.

 

How dare I like this character?

They’re stupid and more of

a hindrance than a helper.

Well, I just think they’re neat.

 

How dare I like this character?

They’re in the way of a pairing

that everyone likes oh so much

which isn’t a good reason to hate someone.

 

How dare I like this hated character?

Obviously that means

you can harass me all you want

because my opinion’s not the same as yours.

 

Today, I read a fanfic

that I found on a website.

And I must say, I wasn’t a fan

of it at all.

 

Everyone was out of character

the “heroes” were torturing innocents

and the leader of it all

was clearly the author, but better.

 

I posted a comment on it

with some constructive criticism

and immediately the author replied

with words I was all too familiar with:

 

How dare I?

 

How dare I criticize their story like this

even though they’ve left comments

on other people’s stories

that were less than kind?

 

How dare I criticize the OC shipping?

Obviously I hate gay people

even though my criticism was only about

how rushed the pairing was.

 

How dare I defend this character

from the torture and bullying they get

even though they’re only evil because

they had legitimate criticisms of the OC, too?

 

How dare I try and help you write better?

Obviously that means

you can harass me all you want

because my opinion’s not the same as yours.

 

No matter what fandom you’re in

these people are everywhere.

Anonymity makes them bold

and the boldness leads to bullying.

 

It doesn’t matter what you do

someone will always criticize what you say.

But I have a question for all of those people

who would do so:

 

How dare you?

 

How dare you try to police your fandom

as if your opinions are the only ones that matter?

 

How dare you harass innocents, tell them to kill themselves

because they don’t like what you like, or hate what you hate?

 

How dare you threaten the creators when they don’t bend to your will,

when they’re just trying to make something everyone will like?

 

How dare you do all of this?

You shouldn't harass someone

just because their opinion's

not the same as yours.


End file.
